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Michigan Supreme Court: Put emergency manager law on the ballot

08/03/12 02:21 PMUpdated 04/07/14 02:38 PM

Delivering signed petitions in February.

The voters of Michigan will get a say on the state’s emergency financial manager law. In a 4-3 decision, the state supreme court ruled today that the petition drive met the requirements and should be certified for the November election. That petition had been challenged by a group based in the office of a member of the elections board that rejected it. The challenge alleged that the type on one line of the petition was not 14 point. The court ruling is remarkably technical (pdf) – font nerds, skip to page 18 for the time of your lives – and the most exciting part might be this:

In the present case, plaintiff used 14-point Calibri font for its petition heading, as attested to by plaintiff’s printer.

Today’s ruling means that the emergency manager law will go on ice, after it’s officially certified, until the referendum this fall. That has large and potentially confusing implications for the towns and school districts the state has taken over under the law.

However the answers turn out, the campaign to repeal the emergency manager law can now begin. By dragging the matter out this long – the petition could have been certified back in April – supporters of the law have taken away weeks that the repeal effort could scarcely afford to lose. The repeal side is trails by 10 points in the polls, but there are twice that many undecided voters for their campaign to try to reach.